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A 2007 study by Jennifer Abe, a psychology professor at Loyola Marymount University, found that less than 9% of Asian Americans sought any type of mental health services, compared with nearly 18% of the general population nationwide. A survey released in October by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 77% of people of color with mood disorders reported struggling to talk about their condition, compared with 69% of White people.

Yet access to mental health care has never been more important. According to the Household Pulse Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2020 and 2021, about 30% to 40% of adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression during the pandemic, up from 10% in 2019. For Asian Americans, the rise in anti-Asian hate has taken an added toll on mental well-being, increasing their need for mental health support.

But many aren’t getting it. According to experts familiar with the Asian American experience, stigma, pressure to live up to the myth of Asian American success, and culturally inappropriate services prevent people from getting the mental health care they need. To address this problem, experts recommend creating an approach to mental health care that is more culturally sensitive to the needs and beliefs of Asian Americans; uses non-stigmatized language, such as “behavioral health professional” instead of “psychotherapist”; provides individually tailored treatment; and increases availability of bilingual therapists.

Nancy Liu, associate clinical professor at the University of California, said it’s important to address both the commonalities among Asian Americans and to tailor therapy to an individual’s specific stressors and socioeconomic and cultural background. Training more therapists on how to deliver culturally appropriate therapy would help, she added.

DJ Ida, executive director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, said the need for culturally aware, bilingual mental health professionals is greater now than ever before.

To get more Asian Americans to seek care, providers need to recognize that some cultures don’t see mental and physical health as separate. She said they also need to think beyond medication and talk therapy, which can sometimes re-traumatize people. Other more culturally appropriate avenues for addressing mental health difficulties could include gardening or exercising, for example.

Read more at YesMagazine.org.

Researchers have long pointed to the importance of incorporating cultural practices into behavioral health care for Native Americans, but there is an ongoing struggle to ensure those services are accessible and affordable.

In past years, federal and state legislation aimed at increasing insurance coverage of mental health treatment has expanded the availability of services for many. But access to culturally responsive care and traditional healing remains limited.

In the larger landscape of mental and behavioral health care, Indigenous communities face significant disparities.

Native Americans report experiencing serious psychological distress 2.5 times more than the general population, federal data show. And although overall suicide rates are similar to those of white people, there are key differences among certain age groups — with suicides among Native Americans ages 15 to 19 more than double that of white youth.

Indigenous people also are more likely to suffer from substance use disorders. A major factor in all of this is multigenerational trauma stemming from a long legacy of colonization, genocide and oppression, as well as forced relocation from traditional lands, sterilization and assimilation.

“We need to recognize that we’re not just talking about history. We are talking about an ongoing legacy and ongoing problems,” said Hilary Weaver, a professor emeritus at the University at Buffalo who studies Indigenous identity and well-being.

Weaver, who’s a social worker and a member of the Lakota tribe, said traditional healers play a significant role in mending these lasting wounds.

“Those traditional ways have been there long before somebody came in with a psychology degree or a social work degree or a nursing degree,” she said. “And there’s a lot of value in those tribal traditions.”

Read more at SourceNM.com.

Mental health experts are concerned about upward trends in suicide among Black youth. Studies show they’re attempting suicide more often than all other racial and ethnic groups – and the suicide death rate is rising at a faster pace.

A number of things can contribute to the increased risk. One is the presence of a psychiatric disorder. Others include socioeconomic factors, racism, trauma and being the victim of bullying. Experts say increasing access to treatment and highlighting protective measures—such as a young person having a strong support system—are ways to help reduce the risk.

Black youth suicide in the United States has been labeled a crisis by some mental health experts. Research shows that Black youth under 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide. Experts continue to study the how and why behind the increases. But Dr. Rhonda Boyd says one reason could be generational shifts.

“One of the things that may be different than other generations is that youth are able to see racist events over and over and over again everywhere they go. And we do have evidence that shows that there’s links between increased depression symptoms and post-traumatic stress symptoms when kids are exposed to racism,” says Boyd, an Associate Professor & Psychologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Boyd adds that the underutilization of mental health services could be playing a role in Black youth suicide as well. there is stigma associated with accessing treatment. And the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology says mental health and substance use problems in Black youth are often unrecognized, undertreated and misdiagnosed. The reasons include bias, discrimination, and structural racism.

The Academy also says Black youth are also more likely to get poor quality care and less likely to receive follow up treatment.

“We probably have a perception of who’s at risk for killing themselves and it looks different. And so, we want people to not ignore Black youth and think, oh, it’s a phase, or see behaviors and put them into disciplinary environments or the legal system and know that they need mental health treatment,” Boyd says.

Read more at WUWM.com.

In order to highlight pockets of excellence across the country, the NNED selects a partner organization to highlight once a month. Northern Ohio Recovery Association has been selected as the Partner of the Month for January.

Northern Ohio Recovery Association (NORA) works to establish innovative care to support continued recovery of the communities they serve. NORA provides culturally relevant chemical dependency services with dignity and respect to youth, adults, and families in Northeast Ohio.

Some of the programs and services that are currently offered:

• Medication Assisted Treatment
• Intensive Inpatient Treatment for Women
• Outpatient Treatment
• Peer Recovery Support

Learn more about Northern Ohio Recovery Association and its mission to empower individuals, families and communities to support lifestyles of recovery.

View a list of previous NNED Partners of the Month.

The death of Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss is putting mental health in the spotlight. A man known to light up a room as the loveable DJ and dancer from “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” took his own life, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Many people are expressing shock online about what’s happened.

The Department of Health and Human Services found that in 2019 suicide was the second leading cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 and the death rate was four times greater for Black men than Black women.

Local licensed psychotherapist Dr. Sarah Williams said, “Unfortunately, particularly in African American males we will miss a lot of the signs and symptoms of depression and suicidal thoughts and ideations, particularly around the holidays. If there has been an experience of depression, it’s probably going to be magnified just because of the variables that go along with the holiday season. If you’ve had grief and trauma, unfortunately, the holidays just amplifies it.”

“Systemically there has been a problem with cultural competence in health care overall and our mental health space is not necessarily separate from that particular issue. Individuals that are members of the community of color, they have difficulty finding those resources, finding clinicians of color and being able to connect in a way that will offer some type of healing and therapeutic support,” said Dr. Williams.

Dr. Williams says to ask people specific questions about how they are feeling like, ‘How are you sleeping?’ or ‘What is life like for you these days?’ Instead of just asking how someone’s day was.

Read more at WTKR.com.

Karen Osterle is a therapist who specializes in anxiety, anxious depression, and relationship issues. So for her, the pandemic has been like running one long Ironman Triathlon. Multiple times. While Osterle made sure not to overcommit herself, she still felt more drained and less present during sessions, and her marriage became strained, too, as she spent less time being present with her spouse.

So the master became the student: Osterle increased her own practice of the methods she recommends to overworked and anxious clients. She has focused on exercise and wellness—upping the number of times a week she runs three and a half miles, making a point to meditate each morning before she starts sessions, and ending the workday with a half-hour stretch. She stopped working in the evenings—no more meeting clients at 7:30 pm. “In some ways, you gain time because you don’t have a commute,” says Osterle. “In other ways, time is melting into itself. Boundaries become more important than ever.”

About one of every five American adults struggles with mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, with about 52 million affected in 2020. The US already had barriers to those seeking mental health care—especially people of color—such as affordability and an inadequate number of providers, and the pandemic has exacerbated this. In a 2021 American Psychological Association survey, 43 percent of participating psychologists saw increased demand across the board, with the greatest need being treatment for anxiety, depression, trauma, and stress. In the same report, 68 percent said their waitlist had expanded since Covid’s start, 41 percent reported not having the capacity to meet the heightened need, and 46 percent were experiencing burnout.

As people settle into what seems to be a permanent relationship with Covid—against a backdrop of inflation, the war in Ukraine, mass shootings, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade—the mental-health crisis is unlikely to fade away anytime soon.

Read more at Washingtonian.com.